Jose Alvarez de Toledo y Dubois

Jose Alvarez de Toledo y Dubois (14 May 1779-16 April 1858) was a Spanish politician and diplomat. He initially sided with Mexico during the Mexican War of Independence before breaking with the insurgents over disagreements with Francisco Xavier Mina.

Biography
Jose Alvarez de Toledo y Dubois was born in Havana, Cuba in 1779, the son of a Spanish Navy captain. In 1808, after France invaded Spain and deposed the Bourbon dynasty, he served in the British Royal Navy, and he was elected as a representative of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo to the Cadiz Cortes. He favored South American independence, leading to his exile in 1811, and the US Secretary of State James Monroe gave him funds to try and form a revolution against Spanish rule in Cuba. On 1 August 1813, during the Mexican War of Independence, he took over San Antonio, Texas for the Mexican patriot cause, but he was defeated by the Spanish Army at the Battle of Medina on 18 August 1813. In 1814, he led an unsuccessful attempt to invade Texas from Louisiana, but the invasion did not make any progress past the Sabine River. In 1816, due to disagreements with Francisco Xavier Mina, he sought to reconcile himself with the Spanish authorities, and he returned to Spain and became an advisor to King Fernando VII of Spain, who appointed him as a diplomat to Switzerland. He died in 1858.